possibly, maybe
by S.J Carter
Summary: The story of a girl who stargazed, a boy who spiked the punch, accidental meetings, and never-forgotten conversations, in a world spinning way too quickly. —-KolOc
1. you came in to my life

_Le notes: _Story starts somewhere in the beginning of season 4. You'll get the gist of it as you read along. Lyrics are not mine; they're from the song 'Two is better than one' by Boys like Girls.

_Summary: _The story of a girl who stargazed, a boy who spiked the punch, accidental meetings, and never-forgotten conversations, in a world spinning way too quickly. —-KolOc

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**._.**

**possibly, maybe**

**.**

**._.**

**i:**

you came in to my life and i thought hey,  
you know, this could be _something_  
**.**

**/ / /**

The location was mostly overplayed, clichéd, quite possibly claustrophobic, and certainly unsanitary. Nonetheless, it was the perfect place to either endlessly let-loose and set aside all the 'seriousness' that is Mystic Falls, or meet an enticing stranger for a possible night of passion and romance.

Unfortunately, Sundara was in for neither.

She doesn't know what exactly possessed her to attend such a silly high-school ritual. But, she was feeling exhausted from all the supernatural shenanigans that went around Mystic Falls. Niklaus was surprisingly generous enough to gift his precious hybrids one night off duty. Most of them chose to be amongst each other, drinking until morning and complaining about their silly sire bond. She, of course, being the youngest hybrid and always the odd one out, decided to attend a different type of snore-fest.

Beacon High was the Mystic gang's rival school. Though she had been sired and thus, a bit of a brainwashed buffoon when it came to Niklaus, she knew better than to walk in to a Mystic High party; inhibited by the doppelganger and her friends. Besides, the last thing she'd want to see right now was more reminders of that idiotic town that now took over most of her time. So instead, the young hybrid drove herself to the Beacon High party.

She was looking for an escape, away from all the familiar faces. But instead, she figured out that escaping Mystic Falls wasn't exactly the simplest of tasks.

The party had been a bit of a bore; she was direly contemplating on compelling everyone and having their rich human blood in her mouth. Although, Niklaus had ordered them all to keep these types of impulses on the down-low (courtesy of the blond vampire he had become so enamored with). And the sire-bond was forcing her to follow such commands. Nonetheless, the party still consisted of the usual teens dancing and conversing amongst themselves, the hostess trying to keep the Coca-cola from getting on her million dollar rug, and a boy with brown hair who decided to spike the punch.

She was about to drive herself back to the Mikaelson mansion. And then, said boy with brown hair decided to smile her way. She arches an eyebrow at him, deciding to walk towards him. He finishes emptying the alcohol in to the punch bowl and she sighs.

"You're not going to tattle, are you?" He asks, winking at her with his killer smirk and accent (which she's sure has left _many_ women swooning over him). Of course, he is kidding. She's positive that a thousand year old vampire is not afraid of a baby hybrid like herself.

She rolls her eyes; escaping Mystic Falls really was impossible. "No Kol," she admits, taking her swing at the now alcoholic punch. Obviously, she had been familiar with her sire's little brother for a while now. Not that they conversed much, besides the usual stares, up and down. And the checking out, and the very casual (daily dose of) eye-sex of course. "Lucky for you, I actually enjoy a little whiskey."

He blinks, smile never wavering and runs a hand through his hair. "Well, that's good to know, _Sundara_." he replies, taking some punch for himself.

Sundara hadn't denied being drawn to the youngest Mikaelson boy. Though, she knew better than to get mixed up with one of Klaus's brother's. Even so, the silence between them eventually got to her (and the way he kept staring at her also irritated her beyond belief). So she spoke again. "What are you doing here?"

Kol doesn't exactly answer her question. Instead, he widens his smirk, leaning in a little closer towards her. "Can't you see darling?" He asks, waving his glass around. "I'm having a drink."

His joke fails to amuse her. She takes a step to the left, further from the boy. Apparently, Kol Mikaelson had never heard of a little something called 'personal space'. "Did Klaus ask you to follow me here or something?" She wondered if her sire was suddenly worried about her current whereabouts.

Kol throws his head back in laughter. "Do you actually think that I'd follow any of Nik's orders?" She shrugged at his question. Since she was sired to Klaus, she supposes that she didn't know any better. Still, Kol laughs. "Sweetheart," he whispers, twisting his fingers around one of her loose curls. "I play by my own rules."

His rebellious behavior had certainly never failed to impress her. Regardless, she tried her best to still act elusive. "Then explain to me what exactly a thousand year old vampire is doing at a high school party?"

He could ask her the very same thing, minus the part about being a thousand years old. These parties seem highly unlike anything she'd ever be interested in. But, he decides he's not so curious about her reasons. Instead, he points to the frilly little cheerleaders, running around the party in their short skirts. "I like the view." He tells her, bluntly. "Much better than the boring old prudes Mystic Falls has to offer."

She rolls her eyes again, a bit insulted by the fact that he had just unintentionally made her out to be unattractive. "I suppose the men there aren't too bad. Then again, _you _are also residing in that cursed town. So I suppose I could understand where you're coming from."

He widens his eyes, taking the time to process the snarky comment. And then, he sends her a glare and she smiles his way. "You are a bit slow of mind, aren't you Kol?" She continues, enjoying her own little power trip.

"Are you asking for a death sentence Sundara?" He threatens, looming over her with his supernatural speed.

She can't say she's not afraid, her heartbeat gives her away. And yet, she's sure that Kol's scared of her sire, and she's also certain that Klaus would furious if anyone but himself decided to kill one of his hybrids. "Temper _temper_." She sings, confident in Klaus's protection. "I assure you that throwing a tantrum is not going to help you get laid tonight."

Her comments always managed to catch him off-guard. So he raised a brow at her coy smile and wild eyes. Perhaps it was the whiskey, or the fact that Sundara was feeling like this was her only night of freedom from her sire. Either way, she was challenging Kol from all sides. And he wasn't one to back out from a challenge. "I don't need help; I could have any woman here with just one look." He tells her, confident in his words.

She scoffs a laugh, surely thinking _any woman except for me_. But she forgets about who exactly he is. He's close to her again, and she can see his eyes start to glow. "I could even have _you_," he says, wiping the smirk off her lips. "Or have you forgotten about how easily I could compel you in to being_ my_ little bitch?"

She has a sharp tongue; it's something Kol found himself enjoying. Nonetheless, he refused to think that she was superior to him. She was afraid beyond her wits, and yet, she was still foolish enough to speak up again. "You could," she states, placing a hand of his chest. "But, what an _empty_ victory that would be."

Her words made his blood boil. This silly little hybrid could push his buttons to the point where he almost lost his temper.

"Now," she breaks the short little staring contest they were holding. For a moment there, she almost got lost in his eyes. "If you'll excuse me," she tells him. "I have a party to get back to."

Kol watches her get back to the dance floor without uttering another word. He decided that for the rest of the night, he would try his best to ignore her. After all, she was just another one of Nik's annoying hybrids. Why should Kol even pay her any mind at all?

**.**

**/ / /**

Later, _much _later in fact, Kol was on his way back to his mansion. It's basically morning (yet the sun had yet to arise) and he supposes it was quite a successful night. He was leaving with blood in his mouth and an attractive girl; half dressed, proceeding to get herself out of his car. Sex and a tasty snack; he'd think it was a win-win. And yet, someone always has to ruin the moment.

"Move it wench," she comes in, drunk out of her mind, pushing Kol's current human blood bag out of her way.

Kol stares at her, stunned and bewildered. "What in the world?" He releases as she barges in to his car, clearly still drunk, and lies down on top of the row of backseats.

"Take me home," she orders him. Kol rolls his eyes, irritated beyond belief and about to throw the girl out his window. "Are you deaf Kol?" She released, pushing his buttons a little more. "I said to take me home."

"Actually," he says, walking out of his car and opening her door. "I'm thinking about leaving you here to rot. Or snapping your neck. You're getting on my last nerve Sundara. And 'patience' really isn't one of my best qualities to begin with."

She offers him a drunken smile. To his surprise, she looks quite beautiful under-the-influence. "Snapping my neck? Klaus wouldn't like that one bit."

He leans down to be at eye-level with her. "I told you that I don't care what my brother wants. He doesn't control me. I can't say the same about you though." Through her drunken haze, she swears she hears the least bit of concern in his voice. And perhaps, it might just be her imagination, but she asks him regardless of it all.

"Do you _pity_ me Kol?" He's surprised again. She sees right through him. But her sad eyes and mouth give her away, being sired to Klaus really was a death sentence.

Though, he can't say he knows her well enough to decide that she didn't deserve such a treatment. But, Kol speaks from personal experience. He knows exactly how torturous Niklaus can be. And he can only find common ground with his hybrids. He has been there himself, at some point.

"I don't pity _anyone_." He simply responds, quickly getting back inside his car and starting the engine.

She laughs, "lies."

Immediately, Kol stops his car. "Pity is for the weak Sundara, and I am not weak."

Another irritating laughter ensues. He really hated hearing her laugh. It sort of reminded him of hyena; not charming at all and hardly lady like. "God," she breathes, rolling her eyes, remembering something Klaus had once said to her. "What is with you Original brothers? All of you wearing this tough-guy façade; _love is a vampire's greatest weakness _and all that crap. Makes me want to gag myself."

Kol decides to give her a glare, she was intensely lucky that she was one of Nik's hybrids. Otherwise, Kol would have snapped her neck by now. Not that it would ever permanently kill her, being supernatural did have its perks. "You, gagging yourself?" He repeats, suddenly smiling her way. "I think I would love that."

Her laughter then fades as his ensues. She rolls her eyes, "asshole."

**.**

**/ / /**

Sired hybrid or not, mornings at the Mikaelson's were always the worst. Already, Klaus offered his hybrids a very minimal amount of freedom. Now, Sundara's night away from him might have seemed very unlike the original but, he did order them all to come back the next morning and gave them strict rules about whom to meet (or not to meet), whom to talk to (or not talk to), and the places that they could (or could not) go. All in all, all of them had been forced to follow orders and their night of freedom hardly felt like a night of freedom at all. Nonetheless, morning rolled around to make things even worse.

Having barely gotten any sleep thanks to that insufferable party, Sundara found herself with heavy eyelids. There was blood all over the precious Mikaelson floor for some odd reason. It's just another morning of following Klaus's orders around. She figured that he was quite lazy, since he made them carry his paintings to galleries and clean up after him. It wasn't that strange though, coming from a man who thought that he was a king. She found herself with a horrible hangover, scrubbing off whatever shoe marks Klaus or anyone else had left on the marbled white floor. Oh and the blood of course, was a definite tough stain.

"So Sundara," she looks up to see Tyler Lockwood. He stared at her, eyes dark and sinister, like he had something on his mind. "How was your one night of freedom?" He asks, and she wonders if he's genuinely curious. She and Tyler weren't exactly close. Then again, she wasn't very close to any of the hybrids. And it wasn't just because she was new; she didn't exactly possess the best social skills. She was rude, selfish at times, moody certainly, and definitely not charming. She kind of classified herself as a lone-wolf for the most of it.

"I had the time of my life Tyler," he can hear the sarcasm in her voice. Yet, he still eggs her on.

"Oh really?" He says, raising a dark brow. "Well, I guess that's good."

"Hmm,"

"Where did you go?"

"A party."

"Where?"

"Outside of town."

"That sounds like fun." He's acting a bit strange. Sundara isn't very patient so she decides to get straight to the point.

"What do you want?" She asks, sounding rude and very irritated by the male hybrid. "I have a lot of cleaning to do and I don't exactly enjoy wasting my valuable time with you."

Tyler sighed; this girl really had poor social skills. And the fact that she hasn't smiled at him at all really was a turn off. "The rest of the hybrids and I are having a talk. We'd really appreciate it if you'd join us. As new as you are, we're still kind of like a family, you know?"

Family. The word hits a core that she wishes wouldn't hurt so badly. She furrows her brows at Tyler. "I don't have a family." She bluntly says, noticing the way he was backing off as her eyes slowly started to glow yellow. "And I don't desire one either. So if you could be so kind as to leave me alone, I would be very grateful."

Regardless of his need for her to join the pack, Tyler does back away. Sundara sighs in relief and gets back to cleaning. The last thing she needed to do was talk some more. She had already said too much to Kol about 'pity' and what not. She really doesn't want to get too close to anyone right now. It's nothing but an annoyance really.

"Not making any friends, are we Sundara?" And just as she was about to have some peace and quiet, another annoyance walked it.

"No Klaus," she tells him, avoiding his eyes and keeping her attention on her cleaning.

He stares at her until she feels too awkward. Though Klaus almost always got whatever he wanted, Sundara wasn't going to give up without a fight. So she kept the conversation to a minimum; fearing what other one of Klaus's orders she'd blindly have to follow next. "Don't be so glum my dear," he says, grasping her chin with his fingers so she could raise her head to him. He looks her dead in the eyes; it makes her hate the color blue with a strong passion that she had never felt before. "After all, I gave you a roof over your head, the least you can do is show me some appreciation."

Klaus was a cruel man indeed. He never did forget to remind her of the state of poverty she was in before he decided to make her a hybrid. She offers him her best fake smile just to get rid of him. "Thank you Klaus, for making me spend the rest of my life under the direct orders of a man who can't even bothered to clean his own floor."

Her sarcasm was her down fall. And she of all people should have known better than to anger Niklaus. But, Sundara was a brave little thing; it's one of the reasons why Klaus even made her in to a hybrid. Though he doesn't hesitate to wrap his finger around her neck, preventing her from breathing properly. "Sweetheart," he begins, sounding a bit too much like Kol. "You really should think before you speak." He advises her, watching her squirm. His eyes glow yellow as she struggles to breathe. She's close to passing out at this point. He then slowly releases her, getting his kick out of scaring her.

She widens her eyes, catches her own breath. She then looks to the floor.

Klaus smiles at her. "You missed a spot." He tells her, pointing towards a shoe-scuff on the floor. Soon after, Klaus walks away. As irritated as she is, she keeps cleaning.

She changes her mind about the first statement. Mornings at the Mikaelson's were definitely the worse for sired hybrids, more than most anyone else.

**.**

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**Tbc**

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_Le more notes_: Just to clear something up, Sundara was created before Rebekah went crazy and destroyed what was left of Elena's human blood. And no, Tyler doesn't like her like that (neither does Klaus, this is NOT going to be some harem).

So I am avoiding a few things, like the hunt for the cure and most things Elena Gilbert. Though it will probably come in to play later in the story. For now, I'm still establishing the character so apologies for the AU-ness of this.

**_-Xoxo Carter_**


	2. funny, how you're the broken one

_Le notes_: For anyone wondering about Sundara's physical appearance, check out the cover photo of this fic (actress Kangana Ranaut).

And just a few minor details, she was in her late teens when Klaus turned her in to a hybrid (possibly 18). Also, about her name, she is of Indian descent so I did give her a cultural name (it might not be addressed in the story since it is not really relevant, this is just to give you a better gist of what she looks like).

Oh and the lyrics for this chapter are not mine (they're from Rihanna's 'Stay').

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**possibly, maybe**

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**._.**

**ii:**

funny, how you're the broken one,  
but i'm the one who needed _saving_  
**.**

**/ / /**

For most, obscurity became a state where one could easily be persuaded in to feeling endangered or simply afraid. Logical, since vision, a skill that is direly important, is rendered weak under the influence of the night. And most certainly, all tales of murder and mystery take place after dark. However, for others, nightfall felt like salvation under the hymn of darkness. It was the only time where Niklaus left each of his hybrids with one decision that was completely their own; to fall sleep or to remain wide awake.

However, his ability to control his puppets worked in magnetic ways. Consequently, Niklaus's methods seem to function so well that even when his hybrids received the little freedom that they did, they would still be unable to exercise their new found liberties.

Naturally, Sundara became a victim to this as well. Her mind was preoccupied with many troubles. Mostly, she fought an inner battle. As best she could, she'd wanted to hate Niklaus. However, he never forgot to remind her of the fact that he saved her from the slums, and it was a major factor. It could just be the sire bond, or it could just be that she is indeed genuinely grateful towards the original. He had saved her the pain of turning on the full moon, and from a life of living inside a cardboard box.

Her own indecisive behavior was annoying her. Should she hate Klaus or be thankful towards him? It was all that plagued her mind. Unconsciously, she wondered if _this_ was why Tyler wanted to talk to her so desperately. Perhaps,_ this_ is what the other hybrids felt as well. And that suspicious look in Tyler's eyes never wavered from her mind. Maybe, he had figured _something _out.

"Bloody hell," just then, an irritating voice made her lose her train of thought. Quite quickly, Sundara peaks her head out her window, only to spot the (wolf's) bane of her existence. For some odd reason, Kol was outside with his bat and a large pile of baseballs, at three in the morning. "I keep missing!" He complains, failing at the game he is usually so good at.

At first, he didn't notice the young hybrid. Which, strangely, infuriated her. She wasn't much for attention, especially his, but these days, he was starting to intrigue her. She enjoyed making jabs at him, mostly because it was a great distraction from her silly sire bond. It also made her laugh, genuinely, because Kol's reactions really are priceless. Additionally, she had to admit, he was quite the looker.

"Hey!" She shouted, rudely and uncontrollably. Kol turned around to spot her across from him. She smiles when they lock eyes. She can already see how annoyed he is with her sudden presence. "You're not very good at that, are you?" She comments on his current poor baseball skills.

Kol rolls his eyes. If her long dark curls didn't frame her heart-shaped face so well, and her tanned flesh hadn't looked so creamy under the moonlight, he thinks he might have killed her just for that comment alone. She smiles at him still, her big brown eyes never parting with his gaze. He notes that she has a nose that is too big for her face, and a mouth that is too small for all that she has to say. Her frailness and tender limbs suddenly catch his attention. He decides that despite her bitterness, she is indeed quite pretty. "I'd like to see _you_ try your luck at this," he waves his bat around and smirks her way. "I bet you wouldn't even be able to hold the bat correctly."

She sends him one of her annoying cackles. _Just like a hyena_, he tells himself.

She wipes away a tear of joy with her knuckle. "Ah, I bet you're right. I've always sucked at sports." Her sudden change of attitude surprises him. Apparently, Kol Mikaelson was the only person who could get this grumpy hybrid in a better mood. "So, why are you up this late anyway?"

He keeps looking at her like she's lost her mind. For her information, baseball was a way for him to calm down. His parents had passed, Elijah had fled, Rebekah and Niklaus bickered non-stop, and Kol was stressed beyond belief. There was not a moment of peace with anyone, which made him unable to sleep. And it wasn't like anyone was willing to listen to him rant about his problems. As a result, he became direly desperate. Which is exactly why he's playing baseball at three in the morning. And, it's also the reason why he's offering Sundara a coherent answer.

"I can't sleep." He admits, honestly. Surprisingly, her never-wavering smile brings a little warmth in to his dead heart. Her face says it all, she could relate.

"Me neither." Sundara releases, also feeling a bit comfort. She didn't have any friends in this bloody town, and she didn't get along with any of the other hybrids. Klaus kept them all pretty controlled so it wasn't as if she could have a pen-pal or something. Besides, Kol was good-looking, and sort-of in the same boat as her, and willing to listen to her. So being nice to him could be beneficial for her. "I never thanked you," she softly says. He raises his brow, looking her way. "For driving me back from that party the other night," she elaborates, remembering her drunk and rude behavior.

"No need to," she wonders if he's finally about to say something that's actually kind. "I wasn't doing it for you darling, I had to get home and you threw yourself in to my car. You didn't exactly offer me much of a choice." She sighs, disappointed in his answer.

And yet, he said he was going to leave her behind and chose not to.

"I guess I could see it like that." She admits, darting her eyes away from him to gaze upon the stars. "But then again, I am sort of a _romantic_ creature. Despite how I may act around you lot."

He's quite silent after that. With the stars shinning down on her and_ that_ look in her eyes, she looked like some tragic heroine. That's when he remembers her word; _pity_. He wonders, is that what that heavy feeling in his chest was called?

"Did you see that?" She asks him, breaking him away from his trail of thought.

"See what?" He questions back, curious.

Her lips form a small smile. "A shooting star."

He looked up to see the small trail of light and fire, run passed the night sky.

_"Quickly Kol! Make a wish!"_

**.**

**/ / /**

The rest of the week had consisted of a series of strange events. Evidently, Klaus had become more and more demanding, which made Sundara far more tired than she usually was. She didn't know what it was, but something had her sire upset, then in a sudden good mood, and then upset yet again. Of course, she presumed that things couldn't possibly get any worse. Klaus's mood swings were only bearable up to a certain point. And then, Tyler Lockwood and the wolf girl, Hayley, decided to corner Sundara in an alley way.

She sighed, trying to take a step to the left. Hayley stood before her. Then, she stepped to the right, and Tyler decided to do the same. Sundara rolled her eyes. Now she had two options; either run (and have them chase after her) or face her current dilemma head on.

Being a clever girl, she decided to go with the latter. "All right," Sundara released, crossing her arms around her chest. "Let's get this over with." She surprises them by not putting up much of fight. "Well, what's this all about?"

Hayley turns. "Wow Tyler, you were right." She says, granting Tyler an unfriendly look. "She is quite impatient."

Tyler chuckles. Almost immediately, Sundara sends him a glare which makes him suddenly stop. "Are you two going to tell me what you want or not?"

Hayley decided to take the lead from here. Tyler had tried once before, and failed miserably. He figured handing this task to a female might be better. Hayley places a hand on Sundara's back. "Sundara, tell me, how would you feel if I told you that there was a way for you to gain your freedom back?"

Sundara raised an alarming brow. "My freedom?" She repeats, confused as Hayley and Tyler both nodded their heads. "What does your annoying behavior have to do with my freedom?" She snapped, as both wolves had landed on a rather touchy subject.

Hayley then took her hand back and sent Sundara a daring glare. "You know Tyler; I'm beginning to rethink this. If she's going to continue being a bitch to me, then I don't think I'd want to help her at all."

Tyler became the middleman and thus a negotiator among the two women. Even though the core element in their solution had absolutely no idea what in the world was going on. "C'mon Hayley, you know that we need _everyone_ involved in this! Even _her_."

Sundara had absolutely no emotion in her voice. "The '_her_' that you're currently addressing happens to have a name."

Tyler and Hayley rolled their eyes, sighing in desperation. Hayley looks to him, hopelessly. "You're the one who wants Sundara involved." She points to him and then, she walks towards her car. "You deal with her, Tyler."

For a moment, both of them are intensively quiet. Quite timidly, Tyler grabs a piece of paper, scribbles down his phone number, and then he hands it to Sundara. She takes a quick look at it before Tyler offers her a few last words. "When you feel like, you've found something worth fighting for…give me a call, all right?"

Sundara's cocky attitude suddenly disappeared as she saw the sureness in Tyler's dark eyes. Caring was an emotion that had been foreign to her for quite a while now. However, Tyler's transparent eyes always seem to give his intentions away. He truly did care for her, no matter how little he knew about her. Unexpectedly, Sundara nodded her head. He offered her a weak smile before following Hayley back inside her car.

**.**

**/ / /**

As the days passed, Kol started to feel sick to his stomach with all this bickering. His siblings are at war with one another, as always. Years of sleeping in a coffin, only to awaken and find that absolutely nothing had changed. Or perhaps, too much had changed too soon. He was better off with a dagger through his heart and back in a box. At least then, he could sleep in peace. In silence.

What a bitter thought.

When Niklaus enters their house in a hurry, with blood dripping down his visage, Kol rushed to his brother with a new found concern. Foolishly, it takes Kol longer than a moment to realize that this blood did not belong to Niklaus himself.

Still, he could not have expected any less from his brother, who was claimed to be a monster by many. "What have you done?" He released, looking to Klaus with a foreign feeling of guilt.

His elder brother smiles to him, wiggling his bloody fingers. "I was just out for a bite," Klaus's wicked grin spreads across his features. "No harm done dear brother, just one mortal life."

The hybrid is about to walk back inside his study before Kol took a step before him. Klaus had yet to figure why his younger brother was being such a child. Although, he should have realized that Kol was genuinely concerned. They locked eyes, holding a short staring contest with one another to see who would break the silence first.

Unmistakably, Kol gave in. "Is this how it's always going to be?" He released, dark brows furrowed. Niklaus glared. "Is our family never going to be a priority for you?"

Kol's question had his brother in a moment of thought and rationality. This wasn't about the loss of a mortal life at all. It was about their mutual ignorance towards each other. "Kol, I don't see why you're making such an accusation towards me. I recall that family was never a priority for you either." As it turns out, Klaus is not wrong. Still, Kol can't help but feel a missing presence in their current discussion.

"Perhaps so, however I am not the one who is wasting my eternity with the mortality of a useless doppelganger!"

"That's enough Kol!"

Again, silence filled the air between the brothers. For once, Kol let the quietness of the night take over. There was no getting through to his brother; Niklaus never changed. Kol left his brother's sights, realizing that there wasn't a thing he could do that would persuade Klaus in to putting someone else's life before his own.

**.**

**/ / /**

Hayley is not someone Sundara quite trusted. However, her presence in the house becomes something she failed to ignore. She hadn't exactly been too familiar with what was going on. All she could tell was that this all something to do with her sire. And the young blonde he was obsessed with. Though now, the love triangle had officially become a love square.

Sundara can't keep up with Mystic Falls anymore. It was like a soap opera.

She decides to give up, Hayley gets her way.

"It's a stupid idea." Sundara finally responds. Hayley widens her eyes, realizing that the girl wasn't ignoring her every word. Though, how could she? Hayley had been quite loud. Lucky for them, Klaus wasn't anywhere near.

"Stupid?" Hayley repeats. "Really? So you'd rather be sired?"

Sundara thinks for a moment. She wasn't supposed though; she had thought that she was quite sure of herself. Freedom; the word Hayley had used, it was scary, it was unattainable. And quite possibly, it was not worth it. "Beats being dead."

Hayley doesn't quite get it. "There's strength in numbers Sundara. We can do this." Sundara doesn't get it either. This wolf, she's not the one who is sired. And Tyler, a boy who doesn't even look at her in such a way, couldn't possibly be so important.

Hayley is definitely up to something. Sundara can feel it. "I don't trust you." She simply says.

"And you trust Klaus?"

This wolf maybe planning something but, she is not daft. Hayley knows that in the end, no one can trust Niklaus.

Sundara unconsciously starts to think about Kol. And about how he would feel towards the death of his brother. "I don't trust Klaus," she admits. "I don't think anyone does." Hayley's smile reappears when Sundara's not even finished with her thought. "But, you shouldn't underestimate him. Are you willing to risk _their _lives for this plan of yours?"

Hayley suspects that Sundara is starting to figure things out. The wolf girl can't say much more. "Don't you think that it's worth it?" still, she reminds her of this unattainable freedom all the other hybrids desired. "I mean, think about it, you could go _anywhere_, do _anything_. Klaus wouldn't be holding you back."

Sundara deeply wishes that she could understand what in the world Hayley meant. The wolf girl was lucky; she must have something to actually go back to after the sire bond was broken. Yet, what did Sundara have? Not a thing, no companions, or families, or even acquaintances.

Broken sire-bond or not, in the end, she would always remain completely and utterly,

—alone.

**.**

**/ / /**

Night fall was a time where dreams felt the most like reality. Kol wasn't much of a dreamer, not really. Even as a human, he could vaguely remember any of his dreams at all. However, nowadays, when he closed his eyes, Kol's mind sometimes replayed a few of his old memories.

It was, most certainly, odd. They were moments where he relived his childhood; happier times with his siblings and parents. However, there were other times, where the memories were just of him and one other person.

Tonight, his mind decided to display a vivid image of Esther, before vampirism played a part in any of their lives. There is a small fraction of a second, where he is a child, sitting on his mother's lap. She is gently stroking his hair and he is squirming around, trying to get away. Then, suddenly, he has run off and she is worriedly chasing after him. He darts in to the woods, snickering at his mother.

When she catches him, he laughs and she scolds him. The next minute, Esther is distracted by a trail of fire and light, running passed the night sky.

A shooting star.

_"Quickly Kol! Make a wish!"_

Kol almost jumps. Esther's voice is terrifyingly vivid; almost as if she is standing right before him.

He is found one night.

There is a girl, and her dark brown curls are cascading down to reach his face. To everyone else, she is as cold as ice. And yet to him, she is warm like sunshine.

He is drunk out of his mind, blood swirling in his irises. He is lying on the grass; whispering endless words about some Silas, some cure, and some other shenanigans most probably involving the Mystic gang.

"What are you so afraid of?" She asks him.

"I am an original," he never forgets to remind her. "Fear is not-"

"Silas," she calls him out. He stops his smile. "See?" She says, grinning like a mad woman. "Even the sound of his name got you to…" her voice fades as she noticed the unfamiliar look in his eyes. It is not fear but, it is not his usual cocky grin either. He is teetering between both, unsure if he should show her any sign of emotion at all. "Will you tell me?" She asks, innocently and quite unsure of herself.

He looks to her, unconsciously letting his fingers graze over her soft cheek. "If I tell you, then I'd have to kill you." Still, he has the energy to joke with her. And she wonders if he'll ever be serious.

"I'm already dead." She reminds him regardless.

He releases her all too soon. And yet, her company has proven to be more than enough to mend his open wounds. Or, at least, it's a start.

"Did you make a wish last time?" He asks, before she decides to leave him again. She raises a brow, confused by his question. "When we saw the shooting star, did you make a wish?"

She smiles at this rare moment of innocence. "Of course." She tells him, honestly. "I_ always_ wish upon stars."

He sighs, feeling a bit desperate. "Do your wishes ever come true?" His question catches her off-guard.

Never had she seen him insecure. Still, she is silent as they both look to the sky. "Well, do they?" Regardless, he insists on getting an answer.

"Sometimes. Not always though." Her words fail to satisfy him. "But at least," yet, one last time, she catches his attention, "they give us _hope_." Her smile brings a little light in to his night. He doesn't smile back at her, but he does feel a certain weight lifting off of his shoulders.

Her voice sounds like _salvation._ "And isn't _hope_ one of life's greatest things?"

**.**

**/ / /**

**Tbc**

**/ / /**

**.**

_Le more notes: _So I know the hybrids technically all died before the whole Silas thing became so scary. But for story's sake, I had to change that part a bit. I did want to play with Kol's side of the story a little; hopefully I didn't make him too sensitive. I just want him to have a lot of layers; fear should be one of them since it was explored on the show.

Thank you for your amazing reviews :) Each and every one of them brings me so much joy!

**_-Xoxo Carter_**


	3. and all my walls

_Le notes: _Greetings all. Okay so I really do feel the need to warn you that this story is not going to be very long (about 5-6 chapters) mostly because the canon events make it hard for this to be a long-novel-sized fic (unless I get completely AU, which I don't want to do). But don't fret, there is a sequel which is already in the works.

The lyrics for this chapter are from the song 'Everything has changed' (Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran).

**.**

**._.**

**possibly, maybe**

**.**

**._.**

**iii:**

and all my walls stood tall painted blue  
and i'll taken them down  
and open up the door for _you_  
**.**

**/ / /**

When Niklaus had first come to her, uncovering her under the four corners of a cardboard box, she was shivering.

Coward, he had called her (with a smile on his lips), as he took her life and captured it in between his blood–soaked claws.

At times, she falls asleep with her eyes burning and her ears ringing. Her arms waving in the air, reaching for something. Something she's not so sure of. She tries to pry her eyelids open, flinching, and shifting during the night. Outside, she is tossing and turning in her bed. But on the inside, she is _screaming_. There is fear and there is darkness. And then, there is blood. It feels like the walls are closing in on her as she hears the drumbeat of her heart, pounding and pounding and giving her away to the fear of loneliness. She is chicken-hearted and pathetic; not courageous enough to break the sire-bond. She is feeling like her gutlessness will never cease to be her downfall.

Niklaus is pulling her one way, and the hybrids the other. For so long, her strings are being tugged on by one too many puppet masters. And she wonders, when did she start to get the feeling that her life, had never been her own?

However, when she awakens, everything is just as it's supposed to be.

She is shivering as she crawls out of her bed, isolating herself in to one corner of her room. She is cold, she is scared, and as always,

—she is alone.

When he hears a howl in the night, he is lying awake with a faceless monster haunting his dreams. There are stories of ghosts and cults and the world in pieces, keeping him up throughout the night. He is hungry and he is tired. Yet, he is running. As it turns out, all Mikaelsons are known for being cowards. And he could no longer be the exception to that rule. Elijah has run, Niklaus and Rebekah have been running the longest, and Kol has yet to meet their legacy.

This is when he finds her.

"Darling, are you hiding?"

There is a boy, and his hands are terribly warm and terribly gentle. Or at least, they appear to be so. Yet, deception is her only choice, as she is hiding behind branches and twigs. The dirt underneath her skin is settling in to mud as the pitter-patter of rain begins. Oh, but she is so alone, and he is here, holding his hand out for her to take.

Her eyes meet his. She is frozen in place. It is only moments later that he realizes that her mouth is intoxicated with the scent of blood. Forcefully, he holds back his primal instincts. "Running away? Hardly seems like something_ you_ would do." He is smiling her way as she is trembling, still. "It would be a mistake on your part. Nik won't hesitate to kill you, you know?"

She wishes that the fear would be enough to talk some sense in to her. Oh, but she is just _some_ girl, wondering why such a handsome and dark boy is even offering her the time of day.

"Come," he says, leaning down with much more grace than he could ever think to possess. She looks to his palm, like a deer with a broken leg. "I need to get you home, before Nik figures out that you have gone out without his permission."

"It's not my home," she softly says.

At the moment, his smile is like sunshine, and his eyes like two black holes. "_Sundara_," his voice like honey, sweet and rich in texture as her name rolls off his lips. "Do you wish to _die_ then?"

She hasn't moved an inch and yet, her face speaks volumes. There is life left in her still; insane, brief, and spontaneous. But, it is still _life_.

Her hand starts to tingle when it first touches his palm.

The last thing she remembers is falling asleep in an unknown bed, in an unfamiliar room, with a strange warmth surrounding her limbs.

A scent of strong cologne and musk is in the air.

She is sniffling and wiping away her own tears, as he is pulling the covers over both their heads.

**.**

**/ / /**

In the wee hours of the morning,

—he is still there, sleeping beside her. Dark hairs, falling over his closed eyelids; he is so close to her that she allows herself to inhale the powdery scent of his neck. And she hears his breaths, light and cool air coming from his slightly parted lips. His chest, rising and falling with the same breaths. The hairs on his skin are standing on end, and she starts to notice how he has forgotten to shave his face as his stubble feels quite prickly against her the pads of her fingers. Her eyes fall to his lips; a perfect pair and so lusciously pink. All this is long before she finds out that his hand is strong, around her waist.

She is curled up in to him, like a love song.

Then.

—there is a scream.

**.**

**/ / /**

"Be quiet. Or do you actually want Nik to find out that you're here and then, proceed towards cutting you up in to tiny little pieces?"

Slowly, Kol takes his palm away so she can speak. Sundara looks to him; he is watching the ground beneath him as if he is an innocent child. It was so odd, the word 'innocent' and 'Kol' in the same sentence, it just didn't sit well with anyone. Yet, Sundara hadn't forgotten how the boy had practically saved her life.

"Klaus knows that I'm missing," she whispers, to break the awkward silence between them. "I'm supposed to be with the others, if he comes back and sees that I've been…" Her eyes widen before she utters the words _sleeping with his brother_. She doesn't think Klaus would care about _that_. However, the fact that she was away from the pack is certainly alarming for the original hybrid. After all, he needed to keep his little slaves where he could see them.

Regardless of their differences, Kol sees the worried look on her face. And he decides to comfort her because she's done the same for him. "Listen," he begins, placing both his hands on her very frail shoulders. He feels the goose-bumps starting to appear on her skin. He really did manage to make her nervous. In a sort of good way. "Nik won't do anything to hurt you if you're with _me_. We're brothers, after all." he stops before he utters something moronic like _I'll protect you_.

She kept looking at his shield-shaped palms, heavy on her shoulders. "Why do you care?" She pushes his hands off of her skin. "If I live or die? What difference does it make to you?"

He can't believe how daft she is. She ponders on the answer since, clearly, he's not going to say a word. And then, something incredibly idiotic dawns on her. Her worry changes in to a playful smile that Kol is all too familiar with. She points to him and he knows exactly what he's in for. "Oh my God," she begins, releasing a loud cackle. "You like me, don't you?"

Kol widens his eyes. This woman was quite possibly, the most exhausting creature to ever roam this planet. And her annoying laugh, that hyena-like cackle, Kol had enough of hearing her. "_Me _like _you_?" He repeats, and she nods, triumphantly. Well, at least she was back to her old self. Kol sighs. "Sweetheart, you must be losing your mind._ I_ barely know _you_."

He fails to convince her. "Ah-ha!" She says, waving her index finger in a circle. "You never denied my statement."

He's in disbelief. "No, but I did just classify you as a mad woman."

She rolls her eyes, snapping her fingers. And she tries to find a good comeback. "Many have called me mad before, you are no exception to that. However, if you happen to be falling for my madness, than you have officially become quite extra-ordinary, Kol Mikaelson."

Kol furrows his brows, he is in complete denial. She was rude, cocky, had the worst laugh, and was infuriatingly beautiful. There was no way that he would ever like her. "Darling, were you, by any chance, dropped several times on your head as a child?"

She tilts her head to one side, actually trying to remember if such a thing had ever occurred. "Quite possibly, my parents never did get along too well." Funny, neither did his.

But, that was besides the point.

"Honestly Sundara," he approaches her, she looks up, still smiling his way. "I find you neither intellectually nor physically appealing," he lies to her regardless but, she does become offended. Yet, she lets him carry on. "The very idea of being with you makes me want to strangle myself with a cord. I'd rather be slapped in the face by a cactus then be anywhere near you."

At his final statement, Sundara had grown completely silent. It was…amazing. Although every single word he had just uttered had all been complete lies, it still felt good to have her speechless.

However, this never lasted very long.

"Insult me all you want, just get one thing straight." She stands strong, despite only being five-feet and two inches tall. "All your current hatred towards me, it's coming from one place deep inside, and that is your heart. You are enamored with thoughts about me, which can only mean one thing." Then, she took a step close to him, letting her index finger poke his chest. "That _you_." She starts, locking eyes with him. "_Like_." Her smiles suddenly reappears. "_Me_." She ends, widening her grin when suddenly; he is the one who is now speechless.

**.**

**/ / /**

It's Monday morning and he makes a decision.

His sister is this girl who is like spitfire.

In many ways, she reminds him of Niklaus. She is angry, betrayed, and sometimes broken beyond repair. But in other ways, she is nothing like her older brother at all.

After all, humanity could never be something that Niklaus would desire with such passion.

Rebekah seemed less herself, Kol thinks. Humanity suddenly became so important to her. He honestly never thought that out of every one in Mystic Falls, his sister would be the one to desire the cure so desperately. Unconsciously, he lets his well-hidden insecurities get the best of him and he breaks the silence between himself and Rebekah.

"Sister," he begins, catching her attention with the sudden softness in his tone. "I hope that you are aware that becoming human again will keep you from spending _eternity_ with your family."

The realization is not something Rebekah had hidden. Though, she had failed to think of Kol's reaction to her sudden change of species. He hadn't told her, thought it might have been obvious, that he didn't want to watch his dearest sister shrivel up like a prune and die from old age. "Kol, I know what this is about," she presumes, thinking that her brother is only concerned with Silas. "But I want to be human, and I'll do whatever it takes."

Kol's eyes give him away; he really can't bear to lose yet another member of his family. "Rebekah, Finn is gone, and so are mother and father." Regardless of their betrayals, they were family, and losing family would hurt even then. "Elijah is nowhere to be found…if you left too…" he can't do it, Kol can't be weak. He has never been, and he's not going to start being weak right now.

Rebekah sighs, looking to the concrete under her shoes. "I wish you would stop being so selfish." Her words cut deep in to him, he wishes that she wasn't so right about him. "I just want to be happy Kol, and I think that humanity will offer me that happiness."

Unintentionally, Rebekah walks a head of her brother and lets the distance between them grow larger and larger.

This is when Kol notes that, perhaps, Rebekah and Niklaus aren't so different after all. And Kol is all too different. His siblings walk their own paths, perhaps it's time for him to begin to do the very same.

**.**

**/ / /**

It's Monday morning, and she is gazing at the spot in the sky where she last saw the moon.

There is a boy on her mind, with skin like caramel and eyes like dark chocolate.

That boy is a wolf.

She can tell from his small smiles, and wolf-like demeanor. He's looking towards a girl with golden locks, an immeasurable amount of love and passion painted on his face. _Something worth fighting for, _he had told her. And she thinks, for Tyler Lockwood, Caroline Forbes is just that.

Sundara doesn't really know what she's doing. But Tyler left his number and she was stupid enough to run out of the house in the middle of the night and eat a deer. And she woke up next to a man who could possibly let the words slip. There is something wrong with her, this she knows.

And perhaps Tyler—

"What exactly are you trying to do?" She asks, instead.

She can't tell, if he is smiling, frowning, or not even flinching. This is when she realizes that she hates telephones. "I used to know a girl like you," he says, remembering another girl with brown locks, wild eyes, crooked smiles, and daft dreams. Yet, with a last name like Donovan, he shouldn't have expected anything less. "And I know that if I force girls like you to do _anything_, it will ultimately backfire on me."

He is so sure of himself, like a man who is first in line for an election. Or at least, he sounds like he is. What is on the inside, she doesn't know. "So, you think I'll just come to you, automatically."

She hears his light laugh on the other line. "Well, I trust you to find what you're looking for."

—_Something worth fighting for_

He had said. And she wonders just what that could be.

**.**

**/ / /**

Monday passes and Monday arrives again.

Unexpectedly, his sister had left an open wound in his heart. And he's never been _this _sentimental before. But he can't help but remember a scared little girl, blonde, green eyes, trembling and holding on to his hand as they walked through the woods (for what seems like centuries ago). Yet, she is ready to leave him behind. Just like Elijah. Just like Klaus. Bekah would have been his last hope.

Kol decided to lay low on the human blood bags for the time being.

After all, Damon Salvatore had done much too well in that department. And Kol would be damned if anyone ever grouped him in the same category as the eldest Salvatore brother.

Though, there is one thing that he will admit, he is starting to grow accustomed to the sound of a hyena-like laughter.

"Are you trying to fatten yourself up for _me_?" Sundara enters the kitchen because, guess what, she lives here too. Kol doesn't even bother taking his head out of the fridge. Instead, he simply stays silent, waiting for her to take her leave. He should have known better, Sundara never takes 'no' for an answer. "C'mon Kol, you should know, I like my men a bit more on the slimmer side."

Finally, he takes a mouthful of vanilla pudding and decides to turn her way. "Leave." He orders, as she only giggles.

"Oh I would," she admits, "but Klaus and the others are questioning some hunter fellow and it has me quite bored. I only stepped in here to fetch myself a snack, finding you here was a complete and utter coincidence."

For now, he's too tired to think of any more mean things to say. Though, what he fails to realize is that talking to her was exactly what he needed. Her bravado and cocky grin are somewhat comforting. "And Nik doesn't care that you just left him and the rest of your wolf friends?"

She rolls her eyes. "They're not my _friends_." She specifies. "I don't have any friends. And I don't want any either." She repeats old words that once made no difference to anyone before.

Kol would have offered his condolences, if he hadn't found her so positively irritating. "How tragic," he sarcastically releases. "Now tell me," he begins again, closing the fridge and stepping towards her. "What is it that you want with me?"

A smirk reappears on her lips. "Whatever it is that you are offering me, Kol." She simply replies, amused.

For a long moment they are both silent. He needed entertainment, a distraction even. She was offering him both and unmistakably, so much more. Sundara sits at the table, letting her long legs dangle from the high-chair. She picks at her food and Kol leans against the wall and watches her. He doesn't say a word and unintentionally, his worries start to vanish. The sound of her beating heart is soothing and unapologetic. He tells her things he hasn't told anyone at all. Perhaps, she is not so wrong about his feelings for her after all.

"You shouldn't be so harsh on your sister." Sundara goes on to say. "I've seen the way you look at her with disappointment in your eyes." She admits. "And my hybrid hearing is an unfortunate distraction. I can hear every word you two seem to share." He quietly sips his can of soda and listens to her soft voice. "Most of the times, neither of you seem very considerate of each other."

He raises a brow, finally, able to talk to someone about his worries. "I can't help it if my family isn't the traditional, happy-go-lucky, Brady Bunch type!" She's about to laugh again, she wondered how he ever managed to figure out whom or what 'The Brady-Bunch' was. "So we're a bit dysfunctional, you can't honestly tell me that your siblings are perfect."

He doesn't expect to see the sudden broken look in her eyes. She stares at the floor, smile fading. "I wouldn't know. I am an only child."

At first, the word 'pity' hung between them, like a ghost.

And then, she is offering him fake-laughter. "You're quite lucky you know?" She says, "I've always wanted a baby sister." She tells him, quite honestly.

He rolls his eyes. "Trust me, they're not all that grand."

For a moment, he waits to hear her laugh. However, there is not a single noise. He stares at the empty and endless abyss, strongly present in her dark brown eyes.

"Trust _you_?" she repeats, "never." It's an oath that he's surprisingly happy to hear. And she hears him talk about his sister and she thinks, "I wonder what it's like…to have a family."

He is half smirking because he fails to comprehend her statement. "Don't tell me that you're an orphan or something."

Again, there is silence. His smirk fades, at this point; he is standing on pins and needles.

"Something like that." She responds, "but, how about we save that story for another time? I'm more interested in hearing about your family, really."

Despite his curiosity for her past life, Kol goes on and on.

Sundara listens, carefully. Tyler had told her to find something worth fighting for. And she thinks, she might have just found that _something_ after all.

**.**

**/ / /**

**Tbc**

**/ / /**

**.**

_Le more notes_: Well, there you are, the little bit of Rebekol some of you were waiting for. So, as you can see, I have decided to do a little bit of role reversal here. For the sake of standing out in an entire ocean of KolOc stories, I have decided to have the girl pursuing the guy instead of the other way around. Hope it's not too strange.

**_—Xoxo Carter_**


	4. if you could only see

_Le notes: _To avoid confusion, I am just going to tell you that this chapter begins with a flashback. Disclaimer: the lyrics are from Florence and the Machine's 'Howl'.

**.**

**._.**

**possibly, maybe**

**.**

**._.**

**iv:**

if you could only see  
the beast you've made of me  
i held it in but now  
it seems you've set it running free

**.**

**/ / /**

Luck was never on Sundara's side to begin with.

From the cold and crude orphanage, towards endless nights sleeping on park benches, and then, right in to Niklaus's spidery web. She had swallowed the doppelganger's blood like a misguided blind woman. He had come to her, under the whispers of a wolf girl who could do so much more than just lie in the dirt. There was a dark alley; Niklaus had been hovering over her like a noose, staring her down as if death was her only destination.

"Please," she is unsure of why she is even insisting. After all, she should have known better. He always has the upper-hand. "Don't make me do this." Already, he has her fingers covered in human blood, and bodies piling up by her side. "I don't _want _to do this." Each of her limbs is screaming.

"Sweetheart," yet, his voice is as soft as an angel's. "I'm afraid that you're going to have to understand, that regardless of what is it that you want," but his eyes glint like the devil's, "you will always have to blindly _obey_ me."

"No!" She cries. "I don't want to hurt people, please!"

_Love, stop resisting this, _he tells her still. _This is whom you are, embrace it, why don't you?_

Her eyes are brimming with tears when, by the end of it, it just her, this monster, and the drained bodies of dead mortals. The sins, heavy on her shoulders, life after life, snatched away by her own two hands.

A puppeteer, that's what he is. She knows this too late. It is the moment where he grabs her by the hair, and presses his bloody lips to her ear.

_"You will be _glorious_,__ someday."_

He whispers an oath, and he could swear by it.

Niklaus didn't easily break his promise.

**.**

**/ / /**

Recently, she's been feeling a bit of chance.

She was getting away with a few things thanks to Klaus's countless distractions. She had a strong sense that it was all a part of someone else's doing, partly, she suspected Tyler and Hayley. Nonetheless, it felt amazing to receive the little amount of freedom that she did. And, if she chose to spend her new found liberty with Kol, then she was indeed free to do so.

By now, her remarks have proven to be an aspect which he had grown accustomed to. He would have avoided her like the plague if she hadn't intrigued him as well. Entertaining, that's perhaps the right word for her. As far as he's figured out, she's no longer that annoying little hybrid. Instead, he learns that she laughs away her sorrows, likes to put cinnamon in practically _everything _she ever eats, constantly wears purple socks, and can't ever seem to hold her liquor properly.

"Did you know?" Sundara sits idly by his side, looking him dead in the eyes, with the liquor already getting to her. "Did you know that the last time, yes _the last time_, that I had a birthday party…was when I was four?"

Kol takes a sip from his whiskey before offering her his condolences. Or, whatever came closest to sympathy when it came to him. "I can't even remember when my birthday is." He admits, making her laugh, wildly. "I'm being quite serious," he tells her. "I've been alive for so long, my days just all bleed in and out of each other."

"Your existence is so meaningless."

"So is yours."

Her smiles fades, she hears the seriousness in his tone. He isn't the least bit tipsy. Sundara crosses her arms quite tightly around her chest. She couldn't remember the last time that she had felt _this _vulnerable around a man. "Do you want to know when my birthday is?" She asks, weakly. It's this rare side of her again, that he always feels quite lost around.

He doesn't know exactly what to tell her. "Not particularly." He answers, coldly.

She shrugs, letting her glassy eyes fall to the floor. "It was yesterday."

The silence between them is damning.

Her frown, he decides, is not as pretty as her smile. He bites his tongue, thinking that an apology would be completely and utterly useless by now. The damage had been done.

However, just then, her luck starts to run out.

Klaus enters the scene, as if on cue.

"So," he begins, grabbing his hybrid by the arm, "this is where you ran off to."

Well.

How very untimely.

**.**

**/ / /**

It's all wide eyes, fear, and annoyance on her face as she looks to Klaus and is pulled off of her seat. She doesn't even look to Kol for assistance.

"C'mon now," Klaus continues, "let's get you back to business, Sundara."

Neither of them expects the following to happen:

"Wait!"

Klaus turns, raising a blond brow. Sundara's expression is still that of a frightened dear. They both look to Kol, as if he is making a big mistake.

"Kol, I don't appreciate you interfering with my plans." Klaus tells, tightening his grip on Sundara. She flinches, feeling his nails dig in to her skin. Blood pooled over her shirt and flesh. The pain wasn't bearable at all; she was holding back the loudest of screams. "You should know brother; this girl has things to do."

Kol's unaware of exactly what possesses him. He could very well compel any other girl by his side. He could compel a whole bunch of them, in fact. Although, he's positive that none of those girls would ever laugh like a hyena. Or treat their own sorrows as if they were tales for the famous. Or smile the way she does, with that small dimple on her right cheek. He's sure that no other girl could have a nose as large as Sundara's either. Or be as ego-centric.

"Nik, you should know better than to invade on my fun." Kol defends, taking a step towards his brother. "Oh, don't give me that look. You have more than enough hybrids to do your dirty-work for you. What do you say I take this girl off your hands for now?" Kol's words don't particularly sting in the way that they should. Sundara finds herself relieved when Klaus, surprisingly, loosens his grip on her.

She knows protection when she sees it, though she can't say she's become accustomed to it as of yet. No matter how subtle Kol was being. After all, how does one accept shelter after being an outsider for the majority of one's lifetime?

"So," Kol breaks the silence this time. "Are you going to give me the girl, or are we going keep up with this…jibber jabber?" His humor fails to reach the slightest bit of satisfaction with both hybrids. Though, Klaus can't say he could afford to waste any more time. And he knew Kol wouldn't be one to give up too easily.

He could keep this up for, perhaps, _centuries_.

After a bit of deliberation, Klaus lets her take a step towards Kol.

"Make sure to have her back by sundown, dear brother." Klaus warns, a smile reappearing on his lips. Kol only nods, walking a head while Sundara trailed behind him. She watched the wound Klaus had given her on her arm. It healed quite quickly, but the blood stain on her long sleeved white shirt was still ever-present.

As if it was a reminder, of Klaus, of the sire bond, and of the life that she could never fathom to have.

She is still a bit frightened. Her voice is raspy as she struggles to find her words. "Where are we going?" She asks Kol, who darts his eyes away from the blood on her clothes.

"Where else?" he sings, opening his car door for her. "Don't worry darling," he might just fool her with his words, and make her believe in false concern. She sighs, she was never _this _daft. "The Grill's never proven to be quite that terrible of a location. Though you might be a tad disappointed, we'd need to find a place with a _real_ bar or something to satisfy someone as demanding _yourself._" He smirks, defiantly and selfishly.

For once, she wishes to smack that smile right off his face. She fathomed on why he insisted on covering _it_ up. The 'it' being that fact that he'd wanted to protect her, of course.

**.**

**/ / /**

"So, do you usually go around, _rescuing_ girls with very severe Cinderella complexes?"

For now, he doesn't let her touch another hint of alcohol. Unintentionally, he is looking after her in a way that no one has before. He keeps his rum and coke to one side while she tries to sober up. His eyes never leave the large blood stain on her sleeve.

"Hey Kol," she shouts, jerking him out of his trans. "Are you listening to me?" She says, furrowing her quite thick and dark brows. He looks to her, almost lets his eyes linger a bit too long. He then, unexpectedly, swings his leather jacket over her shoulders.

She stares at his coat, a bit confused by his actions.

"People are staring at it," Kol defends his, otherwise, _kind_ actions. "The blood on your sleeve, it's better if you hide it. Before someone starts asking _me _questions about it." He doesn't know what's causing the fire in his belly. But he'd be damned before he responded with the word 'jealousy'. Especially if he was ever jealous of Nik and the way his grip had left a mark on the girl.

She wonders how much he's aware of it. That, to any outsider looking in, they might as well be a couple. He's only proving so by lending her his coat. She doesn't forget how strongly it smelled of his cologne, mixed with a bit of mint and body wash (she's sure the scent's rubbed off of his skin and on to his clothes). It's all intoxicating and _barely_ bearable.

"Klaus seems to listen to you," she finally comments, looking to her glass of water with very little emotion. It was strange behavior, even for Klaus. After all, he lived by his own rules. She wondered why he was so lenient towards Kol.

And then, the obvious hits her, they were brothers after all. Klaus could only remain cold for so long.

Kol looks to her, surprised by her words, as always. "He mostly thinks that I'm a pest really." He comments. "Regardless, annoying Nik always has been quite fun." He admits, smiling, genuinely. There's a rare moment of comfort and nostalgia that he never dares to admit. "There was this one time, back when we were in Italy. This was before Nik daggered me, of course…" he trails off on a tale. She discovers that her horrible habits of going on and on about herself had seemed to rub off on him.

Or perhaps, Kol had always been like _this_.

Although, there was one thing that she failed to see. Kol Mikaelson was trying his dire best to make her smile again.

Sundara was completely, and utterly,_ clueless_.

**.**

**/ / /**

In the end, the alcohol takes over.

"Just admit that you like me," much later, she has compelled the bartender to serve her beer after beer. Kol, getting tipsy by now, decided to let it slip already. She lets her dark curls cover her face as she waves a shaky finger at him. "They are just three simple words, you know?"

He scoffs a laugh, admitting _anything_ to this girl would only increase the size of her, already, overgrown ego.

He finds himself quite drunk too. Although, he still takes yet another sip and never does he manage to tell her what she ultimately wants to hear. "I don't bloody like you." He simply says. "And I _never _will."

She's swinging back on her chair, closing her big brown eyes, and shaking her head. "Now _now_ Kol" She sings, turning to him with a lingering smile. "Never say never, when you have _forever _to change your mind."

The implication of an eternity with her has him loathing the idea and yet, he is intrigued by it; all at the same time. Though, she is not wrong. He did have forever to change his mind about her. He was immortal, after all.

"Why in the world would I fancy a woman who is as self-centered as you are?" He asks, failing to wound her the slightest bit. She was indeed, well-aware of her faults. And thinking the whole world revolved around herself (like she was the sun or something) isn't something she shies away from. In fact, she thinks that it might even charm him. She is only half wrong about that statement.

"Well, that should be obvious," She chimes, pointing to herself before uttering her next words. "I am simply _irresistible_." He might just agree though, because he's sure fascinated. "You don't fool me Kol," she tells him, smiling to him with bared teeth. "And I thought that all you Mikaelsons were supposed to be quite excellent liars."

He rolls his eyes. "_I_, am an excellent liar."

"Falsehood!"

He glares at her while she fills the room with the sound of her snickering. "I find you quite irritating." He tells her.

"Ah, and yet, you're still _here_." Never does she seem to lose the battle between them.

"Excuse me you two," they are interrupted by a worker who's trying to mop up the floor. "But we're closing soon, so you might want to leave."

They hadn't realized how quickly time had gone by.

Yet, they weren't supposed to. Unexpectedly, Kol lets her wear his coat as he drives her back home. He never does ask for it back.

It's just another reminder, of the unattainable.

**.**

**/ / /**

(Time is stalled for a moment.)

At night, Kol finds that he is no longer the only Mikaelson who has been unable to sleep peacefully. He finds his brother, sketching furiously. Then, tossing his papers aside and thinking, in the dark. Klaus is calculating and re-calculating _everything_. Empty glasses of wine are stacked by his side. There's also an empty bottle of bourbon on the table. Kol takes a seat beside his brother.

And this time, it's not only to aggravate him.

"And what's got my big brother acting like such a pansy?" Kol teases, never rising the slightest bit of satisfaction on Klaus's face.

After a while, Klaus only gives him a cold look. The sound of chiming crickets in the night, the light pitter-patter of rain on their window pane, and a small howl of the winds fill the air. Then, there is silence, for the longest time, until finally, Kol speaks again.

"This is about the cure…isn't it?" He concludes. Klaus's silence gives him away. "You've got your hybrids, me and Bekah…the doppelganger is practically useless…Nik, why do you still want more?"

Klaus sighs, placing his hands together and letting his head lean against them. "This isn't about all of that, Kol." The look on his face is all too familiar to Kol. After all, he had seen the same look, starring him back in the mirror, one too many times before.

It was _fear_.

"You'd think that _they'd_ use the cure against you?" Kol fails to be incorrect. Klaus takes out yet another bottle of bourbon. If his brother was going to continue to be _this_ nosy, they were going to be in for quite a long night. "So you're afraid, is that it then?"

Klaus is not quite content with the fact that Kol found his latest worry not worth his concern. However, the older brother failed to comprehend that he was being just as ignorant towards Kol's fears. Silas was not a force to be reckoned with. However, Klaus did not seem to care about what his younger brother had wanted.

At some point, the feeling became quite mutual.

"I can't risk it Kol," Klaus simply tells him. "There's just too much at stake."

"You mean, _your_ life is at stake!" Kol reminds him of his selfishness. "What happens when Silas is released, and _everyone else's _lives are at stake?"

Once again, Klaus only gives him silence. It only proves that he is just what everyone plays him out to be, selfish. The distance between Kol and his siblings is only lengthened. Slowly but surely, he finds less and less reasons to remain within the boundaries of Mystic Falls.

**.**

**/ / /**

(And yet, time waits for no one.)

At long last, her selfishness becomes her downfall.

When she finally goes to Tyler Lockwood's side, he is neither stunned, nor expectant. He is somewhere in between. She is taking her steps like a child learning to walk for the first time. He is waiting, alone, for her to finally make her journey towards him. What he is planning, it can't possibly painless.

"It was very brave of you, to show up here." He says.

"I...I don't think of myself as brave, not really. I am more…desperate, I guess." She argues.

"We'll have to do this…fast." He tells her, and she only nods her head. "I'm afraid we don't have much time left." Another nod; his smile is nothing short of wolfish.

She looks to his eyes again; they always seem to tell her more than his mouth ever does. _You will shatter every bone in your body_, they say, _you will break,_

—_in to tiny little pieces,_

_(for me)._

"The full moon is out tonight." she mumbles, looking up to the sky.

His smile fades. "You're going to have to turn, numerous times, for this to work." He says, instead. "The full moon gives you strength, it _might_ make it easier. You picked a good night to start your training."

Her skin will feel like it's on fire, and she'll want to stop so desperately. But she won't be able to. Her nails will dig in to her own face, wondering if she could pull her flesh off, without pain. He'll be there, and he won't tell her to stop. It will feel like countless pairs of fangs are being dragged across her skin. There will be such immense amounts of screams, loud and never-ending.

And, when it's finally all over…

"What's going to happen once I break it?"

He will look up to the sky; the stars are like fire, burning in to the night. "There's a _war_ coming, Sundara." For that moment, he looks like a true Alpha.

She wonders, if she's managed to change her fate at all.

_"You will be _glorious,_ someday."_

Consequently, the puppeteer's words ring endlessly inside her head.

**.**

**/ / / **

**Tbc**

**/ / /**

**.**

_Le more notes_: You will have to excuse me, but I do so enjoy writing Sundara's interactions with Klaus a little too much. He is just so evil (just the way I like him) and I don't want him to seem totally one dimensional, but he's not really supposed to be quite nice to my character.

And yes, I did have to end it with Tyler pulling her back in to the darkness that Klaus began with. It just seemed…fitting (and Tyler's got so much potential as a dark king. I mean, just look at him!)

As always, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading and reviewing.

—_**Xoxo Carter**_


	5. i've licked my wounds

_Le notes_: Just a head's up, the next chapter will be the last installment of this story so get ready for quite a…_cheesy_ ending I guess. Oh, and the lyrics here are from Maroon 5's 'Goodnight goodnight'.

**.**

**._.**

**possibly, maybe**

**.**

**._.**

**v:**

i've licked my wounds  
but i can never see them getting better

**.**

**/ / /**

_Tick, _

Time, he thinks, is a cursed and incessant thing.

The sweet irony of it though, is that although he is immortal, his time is still feels as if it is running out.

_Tick, tock._

The Mystic gang is catching up to Silas's whereabouts and Rebekah and Niklaus have already run out of his reach.

What now?

What else is there to lose?

Endlessly, he stares at the clocks, ticking and ticking away. The sound irritates him beyond belief. They are just reminders of how ephemeral his life truly is. That everything changes within mere seconds. Just as one moment, he is lying in a coffin with a dagger through his heart, and the next, he is waking up in an entirely different century. Unfortunately, he is realizing that he hates time. With anger in his eyes, Kol Mikaelson is tearing down every clock in his house, desperate to stop the noise.

He is shouting, and no one is there to hear him. He is unaware of why the incessant ticking is messing with his mind. The clocks are in pieces, broken, glass all over Niklaus's marbled floor.

And then, there is blood.

Blood that is not his own.

Rebekah takes a step out of her room, only to step foot on a shard of sharp glass. She hisses and takes it out right away, watching her flesh heal with great rapidity. She then lets her eyes travel the room, until finally, she looks upon Kol. He is looking to the floor, as if it is a battleground. As if he has fought a war within himself. As if he has died as a shameful soldier.

Rebekah dares not take another step. "What is wrong with you?" She shouts.

He wonders about the very same thing, what is wrong with him indeed. Why in the world are the clocks driving him mad with rage?

"Kol," Rebekah starts to pick up the small shards of glass to clear a path for herself. She breathes, in and out, slowly, trying to calm herself down. "Look at the mess you've made!" For a moment, she sounds a bit too much like Esther.

And oh, how it makes him release a small chuckle.

She sighs, getting closer and closer towards her brother. "For heaven's sake, will I be sentenced to an eternity of cleaning up after you?"

Eternity…she says. Kol looks to her with a sadistic grin. "Only if you're lucky, Bekah." His words leave her puzzled. For a moment, she puts her own needs aside, and she thinks of her brother's. "Then again, if you still desire to take the cure, your sentence _might_ be cut short."

And there it is, the big reveal.

_Loneliness_, that is eating at him from the inside.

His sister's eyes are open wide. Ignorance takes over, she is once again cleaning up. "What vendetta do you have against clocks?" She softly asks, and that is when he realizes one thing.

The ticking of the clocks, the beating of his sister's dead heart, and the ticking of a bomb, they all sound the same.

Kol almost shivers at the revelation.

Time is like a bomb, like his sister's dead heart; explosive, destructive, and forever changing, without cease.

**.**

**/ / /**

_Tick, tock, tick._

The ticking of a clock is what disturbs her, otherwise somber, slumber.

She awakens; there is a scent of musk and cologne in the air. She looks around to realize that she is wrapped up in a leather coat. Kol Mikaelson's coat, to be exact (the one she still had yet to return to him). She remembers taking the jacket with her and holding on to it for dear life. Ironically, the leather is cold around her damp skin. It doesn't make her feel safe at all. In fact, it made her feel even more endangered. She is outside, in a cave beneath the grounds. She looks around, only to see two dark black eyes, staring back at her with pride.

"Congratulations Sundara," he says. "You've survived the night."

She refuses to rise, her bones still aching with pain. Each of her limbs, torn and sick. Her muscles are just the same.

Tyler's got his eyes on her, a sly smile on his lips as he brings her a cup of warm green chai. His eyes linger on Kol Mikaelson's coat. "You didn't exactly bring any other clothes with you." He tells her, as she looks to the shredded pieces of her past clothing, all over the dirt and mud. Her cheeks flush; she looks to Tyler with nothing but innocence.

"Sorry," she mumbles, tightening the hold of Kol's coat around her slender figure.

"Ah," he shrugs, looking her up and down quite suggestively. "I've seen worse." He sarcastically says.

She rolls her eyes, failing to be amused by his weak attempt at making her feel better. He wonders if he should call Caroline to bring this girl something better to wear. But then he thinks, _how the hell am I supposed to explain this one to her? _Since, let's face it, the blonde vampire was already suspicious of Hayley. And the presence of yet another wolf girl (not to mention the fact that this one was stark naked) would not sit well with Miss Forbes.

Sundara though, manages to pull him away from his regular train of thought. She looks to Tyler this time, with genuine curiosity floating in her irises. "You once told me that… I reminded you of a girl you used to know." It was random but, it was still something that she needed to know. He is nodding, confidently (as usual). She envies his lack of fear around her. He seems like a hero who just snuck up on her. "Is she dead Tyler?"

She says this to cripple him, to strip him of his bravado. Because he thinks he knows her. Yet, she insists that he doesn't.

His eyes widen and his heart quickens at the memory of Vicki Donovan's corpse. However, Sundara doesn't even display the slightest bit of sympathy. She looks dead serious. "That's quite a blunt way to putting it." He says to her.

And she shrugs, carelessly. "I've never been anything but blunt. And I won't apologize for what I am."

His smile is unexpected, but still comforting. "I am aware." He begins, a bit fascinated with the girl before him. Not only because she is like a girl from his past, but also because she possesses a look on her face that just screams _fix me, make me better_. Unfortunately, he's kind of always had a thing for broken girls. "And yes, to answer your question, she has passed on."

"What was her name?" Sundara snaps, as if knowing one simple name will help her find out the real reason why Tyler Lockwood could be _this _kind. But, she sees the dead look in his eyes and finally, she feels sympathy for him. After all, he had been kind enough to aid her in her time of need. "If you don't mind me asking, that is." That's how she redeems herself.

He figures that, it's the best that he's going to get. Especially coming from someone like her, it meant quite a lot. It might just be the fact that Sundara revives the cold memories of the Donovan girl, or it might be something more. Either way, he offers her an answer.

"Vicki." He says, "her name was Vicki."

Finally, Sundara smiles. "_Vicki_." She repeats, like it has become a name that she will remember for the rest of her life. "As in Victoria, the Latin word for _victory_?"

Unexpectedly, his pulse speeds up. Victory, something he had yet to claim, something he was impatiently waiting to claim, was staring back at him the entire time. Sundara had figured him out with just one tiny chat. And yet, he himself could spend hours, days, even months with her and still be unable to understand even the smallest details about her.

He sighs, realizing that he doesn't even know her last name.

"I…" he's nervous this time, she's managed to make his bravery disappear. "I suppose so."

Surprisingly, she offers him an encouraging pat on the back. "She's watching over you." Sundara says. "And she's probably counting on you to bring down Klaus."

He scoffs a laugh. "You think that she believes in me, _that _much?"

"Of course she does," Sundara assures him. Her gaze almost feels as if it is piercing through his soul. It makes him shiver. "Just, take a look at yourself." She says. At these words, she has him completely lost; she is laughing then (throwing her head back and covering her mouth with her slender fingers). The expression on his face is quite priceless. "_Just look at you."_ She rephrases.

He wants to laugh too, but he doesn't understand what she means by her choice of words.

She just smiles though, with that _Sundara smile_, implying that he doesn't know her at all, and he _never _will.

**.**

**/ / /**

_Tick, tock, tick, tock._

Kol Mikaelson lays out his options. As it turns out, he doesn't have that many choices to pick from.

There used to be a time, where he would have turned to his brothers when he was in trouble. But unfortunately, his brothers are no longer the same people that they used to be. And Kol is in deep and dire regret, unfamiliar and unbecoming as well. He ends up hating himself for it.

This is when Elijah calls him.

Heavy breaths are shared over the phones, and for the longest time, they are silent. Then, no hello's or how-are-you's are posed. Just a breathless and incessant—

"Where are you?" Kol speaks first.

Elijah doesn't smile. "That should not be your concern, dear brother." He is…cold.

Kol is baffled. "And why not?"

"Because," Elijah begins, his voice becoming smaller and smaller, "there are bigger things out there, Kol." It is a support that he hadn't expected.

"Why are you calling _me_?" Out of the other two siblings, who clearly need more of Elijah's words of wisdom than Kol did.

A chuckle later, "I wasn't aware of the fact that I needed permission to be able to speak to my little brother."

Kol sighs. "You're the one who just packed up and left one morning, not me. I don't runaway Elijah. I never have." His brother almost laughs, because Kol sounds like he is trying to convince himself rather than any one else.

For some reason, memories flash him by. Tender times, with his brothers and then suddenly, there is Katherina, there is blood and there is death. Elijah remembers an eternity of pain and regret. And so, this is what he says instead: "you'll want to run," he tells his brother. "You will Kol, you will."

He is pondering on how true those words are.

"Running," Kol mimics, "is for cowards."

And abruptly, he hangs up.

**.**

**/ / /**

_Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick._

By the end of it, there is just a boy and a girl,

—and an infinite amount of sorrow and suffering awaiting the both of them.

The girl, she spends day after day, with a wolf pulling at her strings. She bends and breaks for him, until the day that he will tell her that she is ready. But her clock is ticking fast, and he's not making things any easier for her. Unfortunately, his kindness is slowly killing her. It's unbearable, so much so, that she ends up fainting.

There is only one person, other than Tyler Lockwood himself, who is present in her emergency contact numbers.

Tyler calls him, courageously but nervously.

The boy, he is disintegrating as the days pass him by. It is most certainly frightening, and unfamiliar. But, he thinks that he's not lost or broken. He thinks that, he can't afford to be, because everyone else is. And he's never like everyone else. After all, his life's supposed to be all fun and games. He wonders, when in the world did it start to get so scary?

Tyler's voice on Sundara's cellphone is not something that Kol expects to hear.

"She fainted," Tyler tells him, and Kol doesn't even need to ask about who _she _is.

Kol's silent on the other line, only asking for the Lockwood boy's address as he rushes to his car.

He arrives at his door step; the girl at the wolf's feet is tangled in a black leather jacket. Kol eyes fall to her, despite her inappropriate state; he doesn't dare ask the wolf boy about what in the world went on.

Instead, he picks her up in his arms, as if she is a child.

Offering Tyler a cold look, Kol just leaves. She sleeps like she is dead, curled up in to a ball in the backseat of his car. He puts her in her bed when he arrives home.

The hours pass by, agonizingly slowly as he waits for her to open her eyes. She's got a fire in her heart, burning through every crevice and crackling beneath the bones of her chest. And it's all because, she can _feel_ him watching her as she rests. _What is he thinking_? She endlessly wonders. What could he be planning for her?

However, she realizes something dreadfully important. Kol Mikaelson is losing his patience.

He is on the verge of stepping out of her bedroom, and leaving her be.

This is when she decides to open her eyes.

He almost laughs when he sees the annoyed look on her face. He realizes that, he's been missing her. She sighs, furrowing her brows. "How many times must you save me?" She asks. He can tell that she's frustrated with herself. After all, she must be this girl, who is accustomed to being her own hero. Or perhaps, even worse, she is this girl, who is accustomed to not having a hero at all.

Finally, he smiles. "Who said anything about saving you?" He never satisfies her though, he can't. "Perhaps, I just wanted my coat back."

It was quite provocative, because his coat was the only thing keeping him from seeing her naked skin. However, Kol Mikaelson was always meant to provoke. "You did all this, for your coat?" She says, eyes widening. He doesn't nod."Do you take me for a fool?"

"Sometimes."

She rolls her eyes. "Idiot," she releases, letting a laugh slip passed her lips. Then, there it is again; the presence of an overbearing, strange, and breakable silence. It's begging to be broken, to be messed with. So, because of this, she speaks again. "Why did you save me?"

Kol perhaps, could deny her. Yet, he vows that he is not a coward. Not like Elijah. Not like Niklaus. And not like Rebekah either. So instead, he answers her. "Which time?"

"Each time." She responds, with heavy curiosity. "Every time." She specifies. Yet, his silence becomes a pathway for her to figure things out for herself. She takes a chance; a leap of faith. "Do you save me just because you do not wish to be alone?"

He smirks. "Ha, do you think me pathetic?" Now this, she doesn't expect. Kol approaches her, walking towards her bed and taking a seat beside her tiny frame. "No my dear, I do not save you merely because I do not have many companions by my side. I am not desperate."

"Then why do you save me?" Her seriousness is there once more, and then a triumphant smile is on her lips. It is simply because he cannot offer an answer. He feels as if her dark stare is consuming him. He wants to question, how did she know that he was lonely? How did she know that he pitied her? How did she know so much about him without him having to say anything to her at all?

"Why so quiet Kol?" How had_ she_ known _him_ if _he_ hadn't known _her_ at all? "I'll tell you why, you…_fancy _me." She decides, proud of her never wavering discovery.

"Ah, you see Sundara, that is where you are wrong." He argues still, bravado taking over again. "I am not my brother, I don't _fancy _women. I fuck them and then, I drop them." He confidently says.

She shakes her head. "Lying to me is utterly useless Kol. I see the way you look at me…with allure, with attraction." She beckons him closer with her stance, letting his eyes trail the bare skin over her legs. She is the one wearing nothing but his coat and letting her perky breasts peak through the opening of his jacket. She is the one in control, and he finds himself hating her for it. "You can't deny yourself of what it is that you want Kol, not for too long. Not _forever_."

His smile is gone; he is irritated because she is right. "What I want is for you to leave me alone."

All she can do is laugh. "No Kol, what you want is my attention."

He's infuriated, yet, he simply throws his hands in to the air. "You're absurd!" He claims, having had enough and getting himself off of her bed. He heads towards the door this time, vowing that he won't look back to see her. Because it might just seal his fate. It might just confirm her assumptions.

Ironically, he sees her from the corner of his eye. She doesn't offer him a single word and yet, he knows exactly what she is thinking. Her triumphant smile, that _Sundara smile_, sees right through him. "Go ahead, leave. _Run_." She is thinking. "Let's see how long you can last."

And he vows that he is on the path towards proving her wrong.

**.**

**/ / /**

**Tbc**

**/ / /**

**.**

_Le more notes: _Did any of you catch my Effy Stonem reference? I just want to give credit where credit is due and Sundara was inspired by many different female leads (including Effy Stonem) so that's why I'm mentioning it. Anyway, just a reminder (again) that chapter six is going to be the last chapter of this story. Information about the sequel will also be offered to you in about a week.

I am so grateful once again for your responses, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

—_**Xoxo Carter**_


	6. and in the end

_Le notes_: Last chapter guys. Lyrics are from Coldplay's 'Death and all his friends'. And like I said before…this chapter…is VERY cheesy. So please, try to refrain from either exploding or imploding.

**.**

**._.**

**possibly, maybe**

**.**

** ._.**

**vi:**

and in the end we lie awake,  
and dream of making our escape

**.**

**/ / /**

There is one fact that she fails to ignore,

—that after spending so much time with Tyler Lockwood, she learns more than a few things about him. More than the fact that he packs on a bit too much junk food, and he works out, _a lot_. Sometimes though, he's lazy and plays one too many video games. But, he is also strong, loyal, and angry at times. However, he is very insecure; the girl he loves might be slipping out of his grasp. He'll complain to her about it, she'll stay quiet. She doesn't know if she should reassure him.

Could she really call him a friend?

She sighs, loudly; this is what she realizes instead.

That Tyler Lockwood is a special boy.

He tells her a story of a boy who's lost his father and uncle. His father was a leader though, and Tyler dreams of the day that perhaps, he could walk those very same footsteps with his fellow hybrids.

"Dad and I never really got along." He admits.

She rolls her eyes, her reasons? _My dad ran off when I was five; don't look to me for sympathy._ But, she's getting less and less bitter. She's changing for the better; it's a good thing (she realizes). Perhaps it's because of Tyler, or even Kol, either way; she thinks that she might like herself a bit more now. "Are you telling me this because you miss him?"

"Of course," he sighs, "he was my dad…after all. No matter all the stupid issues we had." She shakes her head, she really doesn't get it. But he thinks that, he likes the fact that she's a good listener. Despite her unfriendliness, there are qualities about this girl that Tyler found himself enjoying. Attentiveness, the ability to rationalize, and evolve, her bravery…all these things might as well overpower her selfishness, narcissistic behavior, and grumpy attitude.

There was a point, where his father told him "son, one day…you will be _magnificent_."

And magnificent he was; she found that no one has ever looked to her with so much hope in their eyes, before him. When she meets Carol Lockwood, she smiles at her before thinking to herself that she must be a good mother. Evidently, Carol's first impression of the girl is that of a confused adult. But they shake hands and laugh at the fact that Tyler's forgotten to shave his face recently (he kind of looks like a caveman, honestly). It all starts to fade as Sundara rises from Tyler's home and sees a wolf girl make her way towards them next. It's not too long before she rethinks her previous statement.

Tyler Lockwood is _not_ a special boy.

He is _foolish_ and worse, he is naive.

"So, is everything going all right?" Hayley asks them. Sundara stays very quiet while Tyler explains their progression. She lets them talk everything out. However, she can't help but overhear a strange argument, involving Tyler's girlfriend. Sundara blames her hybrid hearing, covering up the fact that she is concerned with Tyler's happiness. He then shoos Haley away and walks back to Sundara with many doubts.

"That looked…" she was about to say something inappropriate. However, she starts to appreciate the strange friendship that they had created. "It looked very intense." She settles for.

Tyler manages to smile. "It was." He changes topics fast because her eyes are drifting in to the sky. She might need a ride back home, and Tyler's not about to offer so. But, he knows who is; a boy with dark eyes and hair, but pale skin. "So…you and Klaus's brother…what's up with that?"

Sundara glares, a bit embarrassed by the sudden question. "That's none of your business Tyler." This friendship thing is all new to her but; she thinks that she needs to be kinder around Tyler. Because she owes him something, for all that he's done for her. "But, if you must know, he does intrigue me quite a bit."

He raises a brow, "intrigue?"

She throws her arms in the air, frustrated with herself. "I don't know," she exclaims, surprising him. "I feel this incessant…fluttering when I'm around Kol." So, it's confession now.

"Fluttering? You mean like butterflies in your stomach type-of-thing?"

"Well," she ponders before settling for a short and simple "yes."

Tyler's expression is…quite bland to be honest. She can guess what he's thinking and yet, she really doesn't want to ask him. "Why?" He says, being quite obvious. "I just don't get it, why do you like him? He's…an Original and-"

She shrugs, very unaccustomed to being _this_ head over heels over a man. No matters Kol's various enemies, it wasn't like they were friends of Sundara's. "He…protects me." She says. "He's cared for me; no one's ever done that for me before. And he makes me laugh. The fact that he's good looking is…I suppose, simply a bonus." The look in her eyes is very alien to him. Never had he seen a girl as grumpy as her have this gaze, that could basically belong to a girl who was practically in love.

He can't help it. She's acting so different. He laughs. She rolls her eyes. "Oh please, don't even get me started on your love-life, Mr. Dramatic. At least I am not in some lovesquare with three wolves and a vampire." She says while playfully hitting him on the shoulder.

Quite genuinely, Tyler's happy.

Sundara almost regrets her decision.

Later, she will leave and forget to bid him farewell. She will simply offer him a note, folded and placed under his doormat. This is what they will read: _Don't trust Hayley._

**.**

**/ / /**

One evening,

—he is turning off the overly loud telly and walking out of his house. He hears the doorbell. When he opens his door, he almost ends up closing it again. It has been far too long since he's seen her. He's almost forgotten about the beauty behind her small smiles and big brown eyes. She's in the tiniest pair of shorts, beckoning his eyes to trail along the length of her legs. She smirks when she realizes what a deep effect she has on him.

He peaks at her, through the small opening of his door. Never has a girl had him _this _nervous.

"Hello handsome," she speaks and her voice almost knocks the breath right out of his lungs. "Are you going to invite me in?" She asks, but it's in an amusing tone which gives away her usual cockiness.

Kol rolls his eyes, of course she hadn't changed. "I don't think that I should."

"Oh?" She pouts. "But it would certainly be the polite thing to do."

He tries to ignore the cute way her lips gather together. "Don't you know me at all darling?" He says, tilting his head to one side. "I'm not polite."

She furrows her brows. "What if I told that I'd make it worth your while?" And then, she winks at him.

He smiles, handing her only the tiniest bit of satisfaction. "It wouldn't persuade my decision, not even the slightest, sweetheart."

She fails to laugh. "C'mon Kol," he lets her place her hand on his chest. "When will you stop being so difficult?"

He doesn't know what it is about her. She eases his mind yet, she also manages to infuriate him. She's beautiful yet, her laughter is oh-so irritating. She's kind-hearted, yet she's ego-centric.

Abruptly, Kol decides that this time, she won't win the fight. He doesn't let her inside.

—and the door slams shut.

**.**

**/ / /**

Strangely, his days feel agonizingly longer without her around. There's nothing to distract him from the distance between him and his family now. It's odd, like something was missing in his life. Oh so suddenly, she snuck up on him and took over all of his thoughts.

He can't stop thinking about her. He sighs.

He hates her a little for it. Even though technically, it's not her fault.

**.**

**/ / /**

"Where have you been?" he asks her, about a week later.

He would have expected her back at his door, at least, some time sooner. Instead, she took her time. He's angry, thinking that she was probably with Tyler Lockwood the entire time.

She doesn't even need to speak; she can see it in his eyes.

"You've fallen for me," she begins, laughing like a hyena. "You're head over heels for me, aren't you?" He didn't know why he expected her to be any different. It wasn't as if cockiness could ever be outgrown. Then again, Kol didn't think he'd ever find someone cockier than himself. Still, he can't deny one crucial factor; he had indeed been impatiently waiting for her return.

And he found that he would do so, no matter how long it would have taken her to find her way back to him. "For the last time Sundara," he tells her, with what's left of confidence in his tone. "I don't bloody like you." Unsurprisingly, her smile does not fade.

"Liar." She says.

He finds himself elaborating on his invisible hatred towards her. "You know what? I think that you're just saying all these things because truthfully, you're the one who fancies me." He feels a bit of victory when he thinks he's got everything figured out.

It's her never-wavering smile that catches him off-guard. "I never denied that."

His eyes widen, "so, you're admitting it?"

She nods her head.

Well, this was certainly a first.

For this surprising reason, Kol lets her enter his kitchen. Immediately, she rummages through his fridge and takes out a couple of lambchops and some juice.

Her eating habits remind him of that of a pet rabbit Rebekah used to own. She takes tiny bites and looks to him as her cheeks grow quite red.

He couldn't help but think that she reminded him of a timid schoolgirl, with a crush on a man, who was completely and utterly _clueless_.

Until now.

**.**

**/ / /**

"I've been training," she tells him, over the lambchops and orange juice. "The rest of the hybrids and I, we've all broken the silly sire bond." Her confession has him in for many more shocking surprises.

For a moment, Kol finds her almost stupid. "You're telling _me _this?" He asks, in complete disbelief when she nods her head. "You do realize that Nik and I are brothers? What if I decide to tell him all about this little revolution of yours?"

She challenges him without ends, and yet, it is only one of the many reasons why he finds himself endlessly drawn to her. "Go ahead"

He is stunned. "What about your new friend, Tyler was it? You're absolutely okay with Nik slashing the boy's throat?" It might just be her imagination, but he might have just sounded a bit jealous.

"Don't be silly Kol, Klaus won't hurt Tyler. If he does, Caroline Forbes will never forgive him. And we all know how much your brother values her opinion of him." Fortunately, she is not wrong. "I'm only letting you know because I am aware that you'd be deeply hurt by your brother's death."

He raises a dark brow.

She's serious, he can tell from the current broken look in her eyes. He curses himself. _She fancies me, she _seriously _fucking fancies me. _Here's how she proves it: "I'd rather you not be hurt Kol, I care about you." Her answer, it brings out a strange comfort inside of him. Recently, not many people have stopped to listen to what he thought. Or asked questions about how he was feeling and coping with all of the dangers around him. However, this girl was here, and she was willing to risk _everything _just for him. He finds himself coming to the conclusion that no one's cared about him _this _much in a while now.

Sundara's willing to put her life on the line for no one other than Kol. He saw this as a symbol of trust. "Nik's going to kill all of you when he finds out," he tells her and it's only something that she already knows.

"Then," still, her tone is full of amusement. "I suppose you'd want to do something about it."

"Like what?" He can't help but wonder out-loud.

She shrugs, turning on her heel to leave him behind with his thoughts. "Like _save_ my ass."

For about the millionth time in a row.

**.**

**/ / /**

Rebekah sometimes cries in her sleep. She doesn't let him hold her, not that he offered to. But, she _used to_ let her big brother fall asleep next to her. _I don't want to run anymore, I don't, I don't._

Niklaus screams with his eyes closed. He doesn't listen to any of his siblings though; his latest concern is not different. An ever-expanding hybrid army, at his feet. _This will guarantee me power, it will, it will._

Elijah's words ring endlessly in Kol's head. _You'll want to run, you will Kol, you will._

Kol decides, that this town's got nothing to offer him. At least, not anymore.

**.**

**/ / /**

When the Mystic Falls gang comes too close to hints and clues about the cure (and Silas) and even Kol's siblings are ignoring him for the sake of the vial thing, he finds himself packing his bags.

It's only two days later that he meets Sundara in the middle of the woods. She comes to him, with that silly little smirk of hers. He stares at her, her eyes are on the suitcase that he's holding and the red sports-car he's about to pull her in to.

"We need to leave," he tells her, without pausing between his words. "I need to stop those buffoons before they come anywhere near Silas and the cure. And you need to escape from my brother's wrath."

She looks amused, as ever before. "You want us to run away?"

Kol rolls his eyes and walks towards his car. "It's better than having either of us dead." He finds himself admitting.

"Ah," she says, following after him. "So, you value my existence enough to save my life on countless occasions, and now, you want to run away with me like something out of a movie." He can't help but rolls his eyes at her constant babbling. "Kol, if you expect me _not _to think that you have feelings for me after all of that, than honestly, I'd think that you'd classify me as an idiot."

Kol places his bags in to his car. "Honestly Sundara," the way he says that, it just sounds a bit too familiar to her. "There are about a million other things I'd rather be doing than spend an eternity bickering with you over who's got feelings for whom."

She raises a brow. The fact that he's not denying her previous statement is something that unintentionally flatters her. "Hm, a million other things ey?" He nods his head. "Like what?" She asks, curious.

He doesn't even ponder. "Like have my tongue stapled to the ceiling."

Unexpectedly, she laughs. "_You_ know what a stapler is?"

He fails to laugh along with her. "I may be ancient Sundara, but that doesn't mean that I'm unable to keep up with the times."

She rolls her eyes. "Fair enough, what else you've got for me?"

He pauses this time. And she thinks she has him beat. She is wrong.

"I'd rather be eaten alive by a hungry lion."

"Oh Kol, c'mon now, you can do better than that."

"I'd rather be forced to listen to Bekah singing off-key for the rest of my life."

"Hmm, now that's clever."

He smiles, clearly, he was on a roll. "I'd rather be chased towards the ends of the Earth by a bear."

"Keep going."

"And I'd rather be drenched in honey and inserted in to a fire ants nest!"

He's out of breath when he realizes that nothing's working on her. All she does is laugh.

"Out of jokes already then?" She asks, as he hopelessly takes a step towards her. "Pity, you were just getting to the really funny ones, weren't you Kol?"

He stares at her, bewildered. This is the moment where he makes a drastic decision. "Actually," he tells her, leaning his head in closer to her. "There's just one more thing I'd rather be doing right now." He teases, looking her straight in the eyes.

"Oh?" She smiles, looking up at him with her finger playfully playing on his chest. "And what's that?" He sighs at her amusement.

Kol finds himself flustered. He's aware that he's going to regret his actions but, he's been keeping himself from this for far too long. Experimentally, his hands rest on her shoulders and his gaze feels as if it might just consume her. She looks back, feeling her heart beating like a drumming song. Like a humming bird.

"This," he tells her before he kisses her lips, hard.

**.**

**/ / /**

**End**

**/ / /**

**.**

_Le more notes: _Well, I did warn you...then again, cheesiness isn't always a bad thing.

_Le even more notes: _So about the sequel, unfortunately it's been hard for me to come up with a goal for it so it might take a couple of weeks for it to be up. A title has been decided though, it's going to be called _'perhaps, someday_'. So keep your eyes out for it. I will try to get it done as quickly as possible!

Thank you for reading and reviewing, this story has been quite a challenge but fun none-the-less and I do hope to hear from all of you soon.


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